Bad faith is not a good start to the exercise of executive power. What more from those who have no legitimacy. Federal Territory Minister Tengku Adnan Yaakob has been busy barking out orders as to when and where the people may gather for our fateful rally. Collectively, they are making it extremely difficult to hold tomorrow’s rally at Padang Merbok even though we have bent backwards to accommodate them. That is bad faith writ large.

We know that this arrogance of power is the result of power being usurped. They have come to power not by popular vote but by a combined process of decades of gerrymandering and outright systematic fraud.
Yes, indeed we have been mild and we have been patient. The people have exercised extreme self-restraint so far. Instead of taking to the street, the people have only held rallies and peaceful assemblies to show their anger, protest and disappointment. They want justice of course starting with the chair and deputy chair of the Elections Commission stepping down and an overhaul of the electoral system. Is that too much to ask? As T.S. Eliot would say in situations like these: RESIGN, RESIGN, RESIGN.

Having robbed us of our electoral victory, the UMNO-BN government has also committed a long list of wrongdoings – arresting innocent protesters, prosecuting activists and opposition leaders under the Peaceful Assembly Act, threatening to revoke passports, etc. The list is just too long to enumerate. At the same time, incitement to racial hatred and fear mongering is given free reign. The culprits among whom are a former Prime Minister and an ex-senior judge are going about it with impunity aided by UMNO’s main media organ.

We won the elections but UMNO has used the Elections Commission to steal our victory. They have cheated the people. They have violated their rights. And now the police are being instructed to issue unwarranted threats of prosecution if we proceed with this rally.

To the people, let me say this:

Ignore these threats. It is your constitutional right to assemble peacefully. Your lives cannot be dictated by the police, or UMNO or the Prime Minister.

Tomorrow marks our 15th Black 505 rally. It is your right to demand that the Election Commission heads step down for the widespread fraud. The ink was not indelible and that itself is a crime but tomorrow’s rally will leave an indelible imprint in our history. Your children and my children and the future generations to come will remember it.
They will remember that in spite of the odds, the obstacles and the pitfalls along the way, we soldiered on. They will remember that hand in hand we walked through the storm – peace loving Malaysians from all races and backgrounds young and old united in seeking and demanding fairness, justice, and what is rightly due to us.

History has shown that leaders who hold on power through illegitimate means will sooner or later be brought to justice by the power of the people. This is a power drawn from the inalienable rights conferred by the Constitution. They cannot take these rights away from you because they are fundamental to a nation governed by the rule of law. The UMNO-BN government is not your master and cannot determine your future.
By the will of God, the future of this nation lies in your hands. So, when tomorrow comes, let us all be there to make our date with destiny.

PKR is investigating the results of 27 federal seats that Barisan Nasional (BN) won with a razor-thin margin in Election 2013 and where electoral fraud has been reported in most of the seats, Rafizi Ramli said today.

The PKR strategy director noted that the party’s #siasatPRU13 team, which he is leading, has received 237 reports from the public on vote-rigging like voters not being allowed to cast their ballots because others had already done so in their name, vote-buying, unidentified voters registered at certain house addresses, flawed indelible ink, foreigners suspected of being given ICs and subsequently voting, as well as Election Commission (EC) officials signing the Borang 14 before vote-counting or not providing copies of Borang 14 to counting agents.

“Except for Hulu Selangor and Machang, all other seats have got reports,” he added, referring to reports of electoral fraud.

BN retained power in the May 5 general election with just 133 federal seats, 21 more than the 112 required to win a simple majority.

Rafizi said his team shortlisted the 27 parliamentary seats based on four criteria: a margin of victory of less than 5 per cent, spoilt votes exceeding the margin of victory, postal votes and early votes exceeding the margin of victory based on normal votes, and reports of vote-rigging.

He pointed out that in Balik Pulau, for example, his team has received photographic evidence of BN agents providing voters vouchers that could be exchanged for cash.

Rafizi said 19 of the 27 disputed seats were contested by PKR, pointing out that those hotly-contested seats were mixed seats with Malays forming between 60 and 70 per cent of the electorate.

He noted that vote-rigging would have the biggest impact in seats with slim margins of victory, saying: “Fraud can only bring in maximum 2,000, 3,000 votes.”

Rafizi said his team has 67 volunteers, comprising mostly lawyers and accountants, who will record evidence from complainants this week.

“Once we go through the whole process, we’ll bring up our case to the People’s Tribunal,” he said, referring to the tribunal set up by polls watchdog Bersih to examine evidence on electoral irregularities.

Rafizi added that election petitions would be filed by the end of the month, but said he did not expect favourable verdicts.

“The main problem is the existence of phantom voters. But as long as one has an IC and his name is in the roll, he’s a legitimate voter,” he said.

“What is important is creating the momentum, awareness and disgust among the people on how various methods of cheating by BN were used to skew the results,” he added.

Thousands of Malaysians from various races and ages flooded recent PR rallies in Petaling Jaya, Penang and Ipoh to protest against alleged vote-rigging in Election 2013 and the legitimacy of the BN government.

Rafizi also noted today that electoral fraud was detected in federal seats won by PR like Pandan, which he himself had won, Lembah Pantai and Selayang.

Following successful Black 505 mega-rallies in Kuala Lumpur and Penang, large crowds gathered tonight in Medan Istana, Ipoh for a similar mourning against alleged electoral fraud.

Eyewitnesses contacted by Malaysiakini told of a crowd size up to 30,000, many of whom were dressed in the trademark black.

“Speeches are now ongoing on stage and the crowd is about 30,000. It is peaceful andsemangat (in high spirits),” said one of the rally’s participants Sandrea Ng when contacted at about 9pm.

Previous events in Kelana Jaya, Kuala Lumpur and Batu Kawan,Penang had drawn crowds of about 120,000 each, while another event is slated for Tuesday and Wednesday in Kuantan, Pahang and Johor Bahru, Johor respectively.

The rallies are protesting against alleged fraud and misconduct in last Sunday’s general election.

Among the speakers slated to speak at today’s event, which started at about 8pm, include PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim and former Perak Menteri Besar Nizar Jamaluddin.

The venue tonight is also just outside the PKR Perak headquarters and near the state secretariat building.

Although the police said they have not approved the rally, organisers said the authorities were not interfering with the event.

“There are police personnel around, but so far they are not giving any problems,” said Teja assemblyperson Chang Lih Kang when contacted.

Dressed in black and her hair flecked with blonde dye, Geetha looked like she was likelier to enjoy her Saturday night at a club rather than a rally.

But she was one of thousands of youths who walked for miles to the Penang state stadium in mainland Batu Kawan last night for the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) rally to protest last weekend’s general election results.

The crowd was mainly young and multiracial, some who wore hotpants and some in headscarves, but all were in black and carrying party flags to listen and cheer PR leaders explain their dispute with the results.

For Geetha, the rally was a chance to return to her Penang home state and go for the rally as she missed the Kelana Jaya stadium rally that drew thousands on a wet Wednesday night.

“I didn’t want to miss this, so I made sure I am here,” she chatted while walking down the road narrowed by haphazardly parked motorcycles, cars and lorries to the stadium.

She and the thousands at the stadium are the first-time voters who most likely voted for PR rather than the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) in the May 5 general elections.

Although BN took back Kedah and its lynchpin Umno gained nine more federal seats to 88 compared to Election 2008, the ruling coalition only took 133 parliamentary seats in Election 2013 against the 140 five years ago.

In elections for 12 state assemblies, BN only took a combined 275 seats in Election 2013, down fro 306 five years ago – reflecting PR’s rising popularity especially among the youths, who form a major part of the electorate.

Some 13.3 million voters were eligible to cast their ballots in Election 2013, reflecting a jump of 3.4 million voters from the 2008 general elections. An estimated 40 per cent of the total electorate are below 40, says the Election Commission (EC).

The BN government had been targetting these youths in the run-up to the polls, allocating some RM100 million for its 1M4U campaign to attract youths. It had signed up beauty queens and pop singers as ambassadors and even set up a radio station for them.

Another initiatives included a rebate scheme for smartphones and RM250 cash handouts for those earning below RM3,000 apart from providing almost free motorcycle driving licences to them.

There were also social media campaigns through Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to get the youths to support BN apart from activities organised by component parties and news coverage in the mainstream media.

Most of the crowd at the stadiums in Kelana Jaya and Batu Kawan are within that target market for BN but from their buzzing vuvuzelas and cheers that rocked the stadiums, their hearts and minds lie with PR.

“We need change. It is pure and simple,” said Sunny Lim, as he waved a giant PAS flag in the stadium in Batu Kawan.

“We are young, we are colour-blind and we want a good government,” he added, joining his friends in a lap around the stadium to cheers from the stands.

He and the others there are BN’s challenges in the next five years, to go beyond cosmetic changes and walk the talk in a society that is getting younger and willing to forgo a good night out for political rallies.